


Need to Know

by JollyTimeTraveler



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, John Plays Rugby, Teenlock, balletlock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-03 22:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2890613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JollyTimeTraveler/pseuds/JollyTimeTraveler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John met a surprising person at a dance studio and has had a question burning inside him ever since.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Need to Know

John had first stumbled into the dance studio when his sister decided that she needed to become a ballerina and spin around in tutus and have her hair in buns all the time. John honestly didn't understand it. He played rugby, dance wasn't in his vocabulary. So when Harry needed to be picked up after dance classes, John was the one roped into getting her. He showed up in his rugby uniform, shoes still caked in mud. He stepped awkwardly into the dance studio, looking around and trying not to track dirt everywhere. The place was crowded with mothers watching their children through windows and students in between classes milling around relaxing and changing shoes. A few of the mothers gave him a once over but everyone else just ignored his presence. John scooted through the crowd, searching for Harry. Of course, she came bounding up to him all smiles and talking a mile a minute. 

"John! Johnnyyy!!" She cried, all but bouncing with excitement. "It was so much fun! We've already started learning what we're going to be doing for the recital and I get to be in the front row and the teacher said that I'm really good!!" She was babbling a mile a minute and John didn't follow a word she said.

"That-That's good, right?" He said slowly, trying to interpret his sister's endless speech. "Come on, get your stuff. You can tell me more on the way home."

John turned toward the door and walking right into someone. He jerked backward and looked up- an apology already halfway out of his mouth- into shockingly blue-green eyes under a mop of curly black hair. His voice died in his throat and he froze, managing to get a glimpse of strong cheekbones and defined lips when the person he'd run into turned swiftly away, darting into another studio where the window's curtains were drawn and out of sight.

"Johnny?" Harry asked, tugging his sleeve. "Did you know him?"

"I think so." John mumbled. The shock had him rooted to the spot. He knew exactly who that was, and he had not expected to see him at a dance studio.

It was hard to avoid Sherlock, especially when Harry had dance class everyday and they were more than prone to crossing paths. At school, Sherlock kept such a cold distance from everyone that John wasn't surprised when he would meet a frigid glare from across a hallway. This went on until finally John just couldn't take it. It was one thing for a guy to dance, another for him to death-glare the back of his head all the time. John managed to grab him after school one day, darting after him in an emptying hallway.

"Hey!" He called. Sherlock turned around and tried to look like he hadn't heard him but it was too late.

John jogged over, falling into step beside him.

"What do you want?" He had such a deep voice, and John had never heard him speak before, that he was a little thrown.

"I uh...I wanted to um just....I dunno, apologize for uh- I have no idea what I'm apologizing for-"

"Then stop talking." The bluntness brought him up short for a second and he stopped, Sherlock striding away, then caught back up with him.

"Hold on a mo!" He called.

"What?" Sherlock snapped, his voice dripping with irritation.

"At least stop acting like a stubborn arse for two seconds." John snapped back, glaring at him. "You've been glaring a hole in the back of my head for the past two weeks so are you going to explain that or what?"

Sherlock didn't look at him, staring ahead at the already empty hallway.

"No one else knows what I do. And that's how I want it to stay." He said.

"Hold on you're angry with me because I saw you at that dance place?" John replied.

"Yes."

John gave him an almost helpless expression, somewhere between confusion and offering up a response.

"And you don't want anyone to know that you dance." He continued slowly. Sherlock nodded in response. There was a a moment of silence as they continued walking.

"So you do ballet?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you supposed to be wearing those big fluffy skirts and...and hopping around on your toes? I've seen the weird box shoes that everyone wears-" John said. Sherlock cut him off with a scoff.

"You can't be honestly be that stupid. The women wear the pointe shoes in ballet. Usually. It's a blurry line. I don't wear them, I wear the soft shoes." He said, his voice actually gaining a bit of warmth compared to his previous coldness.

"So....you don't hop on your toes?"

"In a manner of speaking yes but I don't have the painful vices that are pointe shoes tied to my feet." Sherlock tipped his head to the side slightly. "How long have you been wanting to ask me that?"

"A lot longer than you want to know." John started laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> Jumping on the balletlock bandwagon


End file.
